Your Auction Win
  • What YOU do after winning the auction

    • Ensure that your e-mail address works. (So I can get hold of you.)
    • Pay me.

  • What I do after you win the auction

    • Everything else.
    • Contact you for your correct shipping address.
    • Quote EXACT shipping cost, based on your location.  (Shipping costs indicated in the auction listings are "worst case," based on shipping from here, on Vancouver Island, to Newfoundland or Florida.  I may only be able to save you 25¢, but, as anyone at Enron could tell you: that's half a dollar!)
    • Combine items you've won, for cheapest shipping.  I hate paying shipping!  And, I'll do everything I can to reduce its cost to you, including repacking it to get the weight under a price increment.
    • Pack your purchase so securely that even the Post Office can't damage it.  Some people can break anything.  Even ball-bearings.  In a sandbox.  With a rubber hammer.
    • Mail your shipment.
      All "Expedited Parcels" to the U.S. will have Proof-of-Delivery, and can be insured.  If you want insurance, just let me know.  I haven't had a lost parcel yet.
      If I can keep the weight under 1 kg, your shipment can go via "Small Packet - Air", for about the same price (and sometimes, less).  Insurance and Proof-of-Delivery aren't available with this class of service.
      All "Regular Parcels" to Canada can be insured @ $1 per $100CDN value.  Just ask, if you feel you need it.
    • Leave POSITIVE FEEDBACK for you on eBay.  You've done your part by paying for your purchase.



This eBay Thing

  • Item Description:

    • I use lots of pictures.  Saves 1,000 words.
    • Words like minty, excellent+, and snappy, don't mean much to me.  (When I hear "snappy," I have a proctological flashback.)
    • I don't "enhance" images, beyond making them brighter (to show detail) or fixing color-balance (to remove that ugly cast, caused by my having the camera set for the wrong light-source.)
    • If it's not obvious from the photos, I add information from the lens itself.  e.g: Minimum focus distance, f/stop range, rotation of front element...
    • If the original instructions ship with the lens, I include technical stuff from it.
    • I tend to fall in love with these lenses, while working on them, and have to guard myself against being "overly enthusiastic."
    • I'd rather understate, and you be pleasantly surprised, than paint a glowing picture, and you be disappointed.
    • When I put a lens on eBay, it is mechanically, optically and functionally as good as can be.
    • The cosmetics of some are better than others, though.
    • What's "under the hood?"  I often include pix of construction details inside these "heavy metal" lenses.  Interesting stuff.
  • Communication:

    • Please ensure that your eBay email address works.
    • A great many eBay negative feedbacks read something like, "doesn't respond to emails" or "email address invalid".  I'm sure most of their problems could have been ironed out if they'd just talked to each other.
    • We're dealing one-on-one here.  I'm not some voice-mail encumbered conglomerate.  Talk to me.
    • Please email me any questions.  No question is too "dumb."  (The answer, however, may be.)
  • The Feedback Game:

    • I leave feedback as soon as I get paid.  You've fulfilled your part of the contract.
    • I don't wait to see what you're going to say about me, or your purchase.  Nor should I.
    • Many sellers, for reasons of their own, won't post feedback until the buyer posts feedback.  Sounds kinda flakey to me.
  • Shipping:

    • I've found that Parcel Post works best from my location here, on Vancouver Island, BC.
    • If, for some particular reason, you need to have your lens shipped via Air, or UPS, or tied to the back of a llama, let me know, and I'll research it from my end.  After all, it's your lens.
    • It's my responsibility to get the lens to you.

    • Tracking:
      • Canada Post guarantees tracking only on Courier shipments.  However, the Proof-of-Delivery number can often be used to track Expedited Parcels.  But, not always.  I'll send the number to you, anyway, when I ship your parcel.

    • I've had Expedited Parcels reach their US destinations in 6 days, while others mailed on the same day took 4 weeks.  (This 4-week wonder was to a photographer in Hawaii.  Canada Post ships only by train to Hawaii...)

    • Predatory Shipping Prices:

      • Ever pay through the nose to have something mailed to you that should have cost pennies?
      • These guys aren't selling products.  They're selling Shipping.
      • You won't see that here.
      • I'll beat the bushes to get you the cheapest shipping.  I hate paying for shipping.

    • Retaliatory Shipping Prices:

      • Ever had the experience of winning an auction dirt cheap, and then finding that the shipping price had mysteriously increased?
      • I have.
      • I won a motherboard for $1.  The previously quoted $7 shipping price then became $15.40    Cute.
      • You won't see that kind of childishness here, either.
      • If you win my auction for $1, I'll put my full energy into getting you the best shipping price.

Click here for The Lens Tech Home Page.
Click here for The Lens Tech Genesis Page.
Click here for The Lens Tech Lens Tips Page.


Ralph Innes
Port Alberni, BC, Canada
e-mail: f35mru20458@shaw.ca

Copyright© 2002, R.H. Innes
Revised -- January 27, 2009
URL: http://members.shaw.ca/f35mru20458/